There is a need to provide radiologists and radiology technologists with the ability to retrieve radiographic images from magnetic or optical disk storage for review on a computer workstation and/or obtaining a film radiograph from a laser printer. It is desirable to provide the radiologist/technologist with the ability to view a facsimile of the radiograph on a video display prior to making a request that the radiograph be printed on film.
A radiograph will typically contain far more image information (referred to as pixels for picture elements) than can be displayed on even the most advanced video display devices. Consequently, to display the radiographic facsimile (in addition to other useful non-radiographic data) it is desirable to reduce the amount of radiographic pixel data to within the constraints enforced by the video display hardware being used.
Because this video radiograph facsimile will not be used for diagnostic purposes, the preservation of a diagnostic-quality image is not necessary. It is thus desirable to present a radiographic page which can be displayed in its entirety on the video display, while maintaining the identical format and aspect ratio as the radiograph which would be obtained from the laser printer. Moreover, it is also required that the radiologist/technologist be able to view any individual image contained within the radiograph at its full resolution.